Robert j



(No Model.)

v R. J. SPEARING'. SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR GAR TRUCKS.

No. 443,382. Patented Dec. 23, 1890.

6 I H 2 C v WITNESSES: c" z AWE/W09;

if -415W I A TTOHNE Y S UNITED STATES ROBERT J.

PATENT OFFICE SPEARING, OF SHERBROOKE, CANADA.

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR CAR-TRUCKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 443,382, dated December 23, 1890. Application filed April 2, 1890. Serial No. 346,324. No model.)

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT J. SPEAKING, of Sherbrooke, in the county of Sherbrooke, Province of Quebec, and Dominion of Canada, have invented a new and Improved Safety Attachment for (Jar-Trucks, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in safety attachments for railway car-trucks; and the object of my invention is to provide an attachment to prevent the car from leaving the track in case a wheel or axle breaks, and also to provide means of giving notice of the accident.

To this end my invention consists in a depending shoe attached to the car-truck, having a terminal flange to fit the rail and means for attaching a torpedo to said shoe, so that in case of an accident it will be brought in contact with the rail and exploded. This construction will be hereinafter fully described, and specifically pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a car-truck provided with my attachment; Fig. 2, an inverted plan of the same, and Fig. 3 a crosssection on the line a: 00 of Fig. 1.

The car-truck A and wheels B are of the ordinary construction and need no description.

Bolted to the lower sides of the car-truck opposite the wheels B are the strips 0, having two inwardly-curved depending arms 0, which extend in front of and behind the wheels B, so as to be directly above the rails D, said arms having lower flat faces or shoes G which will clear the rail and which are rounded at the ends to prevent any possible interference of a rail-joint, and upon the inner edges of the shoes are formed depending flanges G which extend below the top of the rails D and to a point even with the lowest extremity of the flanges of the wheels B.

A roller a is pivoted in one of the shoes 0 to enable it to run easily on the rail in case of accident, and on another of the shoes is fixed a torpedo l), which is supported by the arms or pins d,which depend from the shoes and may be attached thereto in any suitable manner.

The above-described attach men t is intended for use in connection with wheels that are not provided with a brake.

When the wheels have abrake, a single arm 0 is used, which will extend on one side of the Wheels only, thus allowing room for the brake on the other side of the wheel. The arm 0" is exactly like the arm 0, already described, and its shoe has a roller a and torpedo l) fixed thereto. It will be seen, therefore, that the arm C is a single attachment and the arms 0 form a double attachment. The arms 0' and 0 are braced by suitable cross-pieces E, extending across from the arms on one side of the truck to the corresponding arms on the other side; but they may be braced in any suitable manner.

The device operates as follows: The attachment does not normally touch the rails D; but if a wheel or an axle breaks a shoe 0 will be dropped upon the rail and the flange C will prevent it from leaving the same. The car will thus be supported by the device and an accident avert-ed. lVhen the shoe 0 strikes the rail, the torpedo Z) will be exploded, thus giving notice of the accident, and the train may be stopped.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the attachment may be applied to any form of truck and that it will effectually prevent the derailment of the train.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a safety attachment for car-trucks, the combination, with a car-truck, of shoes depending therefrom in line with the rails, said shoes being constructed to. extend in front of and behind the wheels and provided on their inner edges with flanges extending below the top of the rail, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with a car-truck, of

' shoes, each formed of strips provided with inwith the rails and with the flanges below the tops of the rails, substantially as herein shown and described.

3. The combination, with a car-truck, of shoes depending from the truck in line with the rails and provided with rollers in their lower faces and with flanges depending from their inneredges, said flanges being below the tops of the rails, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with a car-truck, of shoes depending therefrom having their lower faces above the rails and in line with the earwheels, said shoes having their lower faces shaped to fit the rails and having means for ROBERT J. SPEARIXG.

Witnesses:

W. N. SAMPSON, R. Sampson. 

